I sent an email to a few dozen people in mid-December of 2001. It was one of those silly chain-letter-type messages that asks a bunch of questions that you’re supposed to answer and then forward to your friends so they can learn more about you. They were pretty common a decade ago, though I hardly see them these days.

Of course my mom was one of the people to whom I sent it. And of course she replied. I’ve lost the original message, so now all I have are her responses, but they’re still pretty interesting.

— Here goes…..

1. Living arrangement
Just me and Little One, Fingerpup, and Shia Khan 1

2. Books you are reading now
“Lord of the Rings,” “Free Fall in Crimson”

34. Favorite music groups in high school
The Beatles, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, The Chad Mitchell Trio

35. Say one nice thing about the person who sent this
He’s my favorite son. And he’s a good man. I am proud of him – all the time.

36. Person you sent this to who is most likely to respond
Mom, because she loves me! Yes, she does. 8

37. Person you sent this to who is least likely to respond
Harrison Ford…..just kidding!

1 Little One and Fingerpup were our dogs; Shia Khan was her cat.2 She loved making me candied sweet potatoes at holidays. They were delicious.3 She put “(ditto)” to indicate that her answer was the same as what I had written in my email.4 I can probably count on one hand the times I remember my mother ever having an alcoholic drink. She wasn’t an alcoholic and she didn’t hate drinking or anything like that; she just never enjoyed the taste of it. Once in a blue moon she’d share a beer with me and tell me she really loved the taste of it, though, so I have no idea why she never really drank.5 The last time I saw her in person, I left her sitting alone in a wheelchair, staring into space and nearly catatonic, having just eaten a Hershey’s Kiss and drinking a can of Diet Coke through a straw.6 I never really knew this about my mom.7 My birthday and my sister’s birthday8 I wrote the first sentence. She wrote the second.

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